What was once a major port for enslaved people is now a harbor for diaspora groups, and Southern Baptists are playing a key role.
Diaspora refers to “the movement, migration, settlement or scattering of people away from one’s indigenous homeland.” In North America, diaspora people comprise immigrants, refugees and international students.
Christians’ outreach to internationals in Charleston is a great example of what Diaspora Missions Collective wants to accomplish in reaching all nations, people, languages and tribes with the Gospel, no matter where they live.
With help from The Hub Ministry Center, Charleston has become a modern day “Ellis Island” for refugees coming from Africa, the Middle East and Central and South America.
The center provides refugees with transitional assistance and care in transportation, education, recreation and vocational training. It also provides relational care through community and compassion.
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Visiting a friend outside his hometown of Gloucester, England, in the late 1700s, Robert Raikes encountered children cursing, gambling and fighting in the streets. He was horrified, but a local woman told him it was even worse on Sundays, the children’s one day off each week from the factory. Determined to help children in that situation learn to read and learn about the God who loved them, Raikes
founded the first Sunday School in 1780.
According to a
Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant churches with ongoing adult Bible study groups, 56 percent say the label “Sunday School” describes at least part of their groups ministry. Almost 3 in 4 (72 percent) say they are comfortable with others referring to their groups as adult Bible studies. Around 2 in 5 (39 percent) say small groups. Fewer say the terms adult Bible fellowships (13 percent), life groups (13 percent) or connect groups (10 percent) fit their ministry.
“If a group learns and obeys God’s Word, invites others to follow Jesus, forms deeper relationships and engages in acts of service inside the church and out in the community, you can call a group ministry whatever you like,” says Lifeway’s Ken Braddy.
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